Sommelier Showdown III

I hadn’t been to a Sommelier Showdown before and when I saw that STLwinegirl, Angela Ortmann, was going to be in the third “battle” against Brandon Kearne from Elaia & Olio, I immediately signed up!

What I really love about this “competition” is that the challenge is about making the perfect pairing, which to me is much more important than how good a wine is by itself. Some wines just may be quite quaffable, but one usually has a glass to drink over dinner and you want to bring out the flavors for both in either a complimentary way or to let the food shine.

With Randall’s Wines & Spirits as the sponsor, they kicked off the evening with a shot of tequila, handed to us by a guy in a Mexican wrestling mask. I’m not sure if every “Showdown” is like this but it certainly set the tone for the night as the evening definitely had a “fight night” atmosphere!

While I admit that I was very biased towards Angela’s pairings, the voters were definitely the winners as you got two glasses of wine with each course. Not a bad deal at $35!! This was an exceptional price considering this “Showdown” was held at Cielo inside the Four Seasons!

 

In summary, I felt Angela had the better pairings because her wines were a lot more accessible in both taste and price. (Prices are listed on the menu because Randall’s was encouraging everyone to purchase what they tasted that night.) I felt that her wines were a lot more mellow and paired well with each course, really letting the food stand out. Brandon’s wines were almost all big, bold, or dry. I don’t think I could drink any of his selections as none of his pairings matched my palate.



First course...goat cheese and salad

Second course...risotto, shrimp and asparagus

Third course...Pork tenderloin

My favorite part of the evening was when both Brandon and Angela came over to our table and I got to ask them why they had picked each wine. It’s great to get inside a Sommelier’s mind and see how they think about the wine and the corresponding food.

Brandon came out the winner, although I really think Angela had the better pairings, which is what the evening’s competition was really about.

Be sure to check out the next “Sommelier Showdown” on Thursday, July 18th at 7pm with Linda McGovern from Major Brands vs Glenn Bardgett from Annie Gunn’s. This one is also $35, but will be located at Copia at 1122 Washington Ave.

Resources:

Randall’s Wines & Spirits = http://www.shoprandallas.com

Cielo = http://www.cielostlouis.com/

STLwinegirl = http://www.stlwinegirl.com

Elaia & Olio = http://www.elaiastl.com/

Traveling Table: Cielo

Unfortunately, this restaurant has closed.

Just when I thought I would never get to go back to Cielo, Angela Ortmann (aka STLwinegirl) picked the restaurant for her first ever Traveling Table event. With the much-loved Provisions closed, Angela has taken food and wine pairings to a whole new level. I think this is a great concept and I feel that this can help take away some of the scariness of going to high-end restaurants where the average Jane wants to make sure that she is getting her money’s worth in the tight economy.

I have already written about how beautiful Cielo is at the top of the Four Seasons Hotel, attached to the Lumiere Casino complex. You can find a link to my previous Cielo blog below. So I’m just going to dive into the food and wine pairing itself.

Angela limited the seating at these events so that it’s more like attending a dinner party amongst friends. Even I made a few new friends as a large group joined us for their first STLwinegirl experience and I really hope it won’t be the last one for April, Sue, Janice, Susan, Julie, and Jami. Unfortunately, a large convention was taking place and half the dining room was filled with the attendees so the restaurant was a lot noisier than normal, and it made it difficult for Angela to teach as much as she usually does.

Angela did get the executive chef to come out and explain all of the courses as well as the pastry chef introduced his course. Before each course began, the sommelier showed the wine to Angela and gave her a taste. We learned that this is to make sure that you are really getting the wine that you ordered and the small tasting is to make sure that the wine is not corked in any way. (If the wine has a screw top, you’re probably safe!)

The meal started off with a bang since the first pairing was my favorite and stood out the most. We were served a very crisp Pinot Grigio, which is just so refreshing in this heat. The acidity of the wine really helped to cut through the richness of the risotto that had such a full flavor of tomato and mozzarella. Most of us were starting to get full and left some in their bowl, but I kept going because it was so good.

The next dish was a duck breast and quite a few of us on our end of the table were a little nervous and had never tasted duck before. Luckily, April set a good example and encouraged the others to be as adventurous as her. I always think of duck as having a heavy and greasy flavor, but this course was cooked very well with a lot of flavor. The skin of the duck made the meat hard to cut and chew, but the inside was very tender. I still prefer the taste of chicken, but it was quite good. I get the feeling that everyone enjoyed the fried potato “nest” and corn flan the most.

The cool part about being seated around one table is that we were able to discuss and debate much easier during the meal. I felt the Barbera tasted stronger like a Cabernet while Ellen and Angela told me that it’s much closer to a Pinot Noir. Some people even call Barbera the “Italian Pinot”. To me, the tannins were high, but was an appropriate match with the duck course, although it was a little too strong for me.

Even though we were at an Italian restaurant, I still hoped for a chocolate dessert. Instead, we had a Ricotta and Amaretti Cheesecake. Italian cheesecake is much different in flavor and texture, more of a regular cake style. I kept wanting to drown the whole thing in chocolate sauce, even though there were a good amount of chocolate chips throughout the cake. A sweet Prosecco was served with the dessert, helping to cut through the tartness of the cake, but even that was too sweet and overpowered the cheesecake.

Regardless, the whole evening was a huge success since I was quite full of food and wine, and more importantly, made quite a few new foodie friends. I can’t wait to meet all my future friends at the next event!

The next Traveling Table will be at Milagro Modern Mexican but is already sold out. After that, we will be visiting Franco on September 14th. You can get more information at STLwinegirl’s website below for more information.

Be sure to check out April Westerhold's blog for PICTURES from the event!
http://westerhold.blogspot.com/2011/08/traveling-table-cielo.html

The full menu:
Risotto with Heirloom Tomatoes, Basil & Mozzarella
Benvolio Pinot Grigio, Friuli-Venezia Guilia Italy

Duck breast with Missouri Blueberry & Grappa Sauce
Pio Cesare Barbera d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy

Ricotta & Amaretti Cheesecake with Limoncello Sauce
Zardetto Prosecco, Veneto, Italy

Resources:
Cielo = http://www.fourseasons.com/stlouis/dining/cielo/

STLwinegirl = http://www.stlwinegirl.com

My previous Blog post about Cielo = http://michelleamarcus.blogspot.com/2011/05/cielo-at-four-season-hotel.html

Cielo at the Four Seasons Hotel

Mother’s Day turned out to be quite the treat for all of us as we got to try the restaurant Cielo, (http://www.fourseasons.com/stlouis/menu_2828) located inside the Four Seasons hotel, which is attached to the Lumiere complex downtown. I am a big fan of the casino and love the Burger Bar, but unfortunately, SLeeK, another upscale restaurant created by Hubert Keller, has been replaced by Stadium, a large sports bar and grill.

Cielo was even nicer than SLeeK though, due to the amazing view you get if you are able to eat outside. We all walked out onto the patio area (overlooking the pool too!) and were all blown away. Let’s just say I scored some major brownie points. Hehe Fortunately, our dinners were also able to stand up to the great scenery.

Since Cielo is quite pricy, I decided to go with just one appetizer to try – the Cielo Bruschetta – mostly because it came with a hunk of goat cheese on each of the three slices. So smooth and creamy!

I also chose well with my salad since I picked the Tuna Carpaccio instead of traditional greens. The tuna came out flat, like a sheet of lox, but it was served with a crab dip on top that I spread around so it could cover every bite. It would have made a perfect light lunch all by itself. The tuna was so fresh!

For entrees, Cielo lists a good variety of dishes without being overwhelming, and has something for everyone. I would have loved to try the Veal and Truffle Ravioli or the Gnocchi from the pasta section, or the Roasted Lobster in the fish section. They even serve five different homemade pizzas! But if I am in a nice restaurant, I always go for the Filet Mignon. The waitress left me a steak knife but I was easily able to use my butter knife. My filet was perfect.

My filet also came with scalloped potatoes (with gorgonzola cheese on top!!) and mixed vegetables but I was actually plenty full with just the filet.

My Stepmom went with the fish special, a grouper, which turned out to be an excellent choice since the fish was very meaty and filling, served with a light tomato basil sauce.

My Dad went with the Seared Ahi Tuna…looked almost like sushi…but I was not able to steal a bite off of his plate.

While I am not sure that I’ll ever make it back to Cielo, I definitely would recommend this for any special occasion.